brainpopfandomcom-20200223-history
Lyme Disease/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, what's Lyme disease all about? From, Alice. My Aunt Betsy got Lyme disease last fall, and she's finally getting better. Lyme disease is usually caused by arachnids called ticks that carry the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium. Images show the bacterium Tim describes, along with a tick. TIM: It's named for the towns of Lyme and Old Lyme, Connecticut, where a cluster of the disease was identified in the nineteen seventies. A map of Connecticut shows the location of the towns Tim describes. TIM: Deer ticks, a major carrier of the disease, hang out in the woods and in grassy areas. They're especially active during summer. An image shows a heavily wooded area near an area with tall grass. TIM: To avoid them, you'll want to be extra careful during a day in the forest or walking through tall grass. Check yourself and your buddies often for ticks and take a good hard shower at the end of the day. Moby examines Tim's neck for ticks. TIM: You should check your pets, too! An animation shows a cat being checked for ticks. TIM: When you venture into the woods or anyplace with tall grass, you should probably wear long pants and sleeves, and apply a bug repellant called DEET to your skin and clothing. Tim holds up a can of bug repellant with DEET. TIM: Staying out of the woods and being careful will help, but keep in mind that ticks can hitch rides on dogs and cats to travel into your home. An animation shows a cat walking through a living room. A magnified image shows ticks hiding in the cat's fur. TIM: Deer ticks are tiny and hard to spot. An image shows two ticks next to a copper penny. The ticks are much smaller than the penny. TIM: They're about an eighth of an inch long and look something like this. An animation shows a close-up of the two ticks. Text beneath one tick reads: adult male. Text beneath the other tick reads: adult female. Both are brown with plump oval bodies and eight legs. The female is larger than the male and has a light blue marking on it. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Ticks attach themselves to people and animals in order to feed. This is pretty gross, but like mosquitos, ticks eat blood. But while mosquitos bite you and leave, the ticks hang on. An animation shows a close-up of a tick on a person's skin. It is sucking blood from the person and swelling as it does so. TIM: Deer ticks like to burrow in hairy areas like your scalp and neck, your armpit, and in warm areas, like the back of your knee and in between your legs. Images and arrows indicate the areas of the body Tim describes. TIM: You can contract Lyme disease when a tick carrying the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium bites you and passes the bacteria into your bloodstream. An animation shows a tick sucking blood from a person, as the bacteria Tim describes moves from the tick into the person's bloodstream. TIM: Lyme disease is difficult to pinpoint because its symptoms are pretty general. Moby lies in bed with a thermometer in his mouth. TIM: First of all, if you ever see a tick on you or someone you know, tell an adult. He or she can help get that tick off of you. You'll want to use tweezers to grasp the tick at its head, where it's attached to the skin, pull straight back until the tick lets go, and save the tick in a container with alcohol, so a doctor can identify it. An image shows a tick being held around its head by tweezers. A second image shows a tick in a jar of alcohol. TIM: Early removal is important because the risk of infection is very low until the tick has been attached for more than 24 hours. An image shows a doctor with a clipboard examining a boy. TIM: Often, those who get Lyme disease don't catch the offending tick, though. People usually get flu-like symptoms within a week or so of being bitten. There's a bulls-eye rash that's characteristic of Lyme disease, but even that doesn't always happen. Rashes can vary in size and shape, and they can appear several days after the infection, or not at all. An image shows an arm with the kind of rash Tim describes. TIM: The rash lasts for hours or up to several weeks. If you notice a rash, take a picture of it and show it to your doctor. An animation shows Moby taking a picture of a bull's-eye rash on Tim's chest. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, yeah. If you catch Lyme disease early enough, the chances are that you'll be just fine. Early treatment is simpler and more effective than treatment that begins after the disease has progressed into its later stages. So just be careful and talk with your doctor if you have any questions. MOBY: Beep. Moby holds an aerosol can. TIM: Homemade tick spray? What's in it? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Eww, get away. Tim runs from Moby. Moby sprays the can at the viewer. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Health Transcripts